ShareA large part of this story was inadvertently left out of the print and electronic editions of the August Traveler. We are publishing the entire piece online with apologies to our readers and the story authors, Jim and Donna Featherston. The story includes a photo with a reader participation contest. Correctly name the topwater lures [...]

ShareSummer starts June 21, but the thermometer says it’s already here.
We’d like Traveler to be part of your summer season, and we’ve got a number of reasons (and ways) for you to take us along.
First of all, the paper itself. Not a subscriber? We’ve still got plenty of our June Float Issue on our [...]

Share There are storm chasers and there are storm chasees. Put me in that second group. On my monthly newsstand route yesterday, I dodged tornados all the way from Eminence to St. Louis. I don’t care to ever see another twister — even in a picture.
It started at 4:35 a.m. when the storm siren [...]

SharePresident Barack Obama tonight granted a request by Gov. Jay Nixon for a major disaster declaration for areas across Missouri hit in April and May by severe storms, tornadoes and flooding.
The counties designated are Butler (Poplar Bluff), Mississippi (New Madrid Floodway), New Madrid (New Madrid Floodway and Mississippi River) in or near the [...]

ShareJo found this large scale NASA image of the flooded Missouri Bootheel today. Although I’m generally familiar with the Bootheel and its watercourses, I need some help from our readers.
First, please look at this image taken May 8, 2011:
I can pick out the Black, St. Francis, Little River Ditches, and Mississippi, New Madrid [...]

ShareA cargo cult is a bizarre belief and series of activities usually by unsophisticated cultures to entice gods, perceived gods, supernatural powers, or just people more technologically advanced to share their material richness with them.
Although known for centuries, the most recent and well-known cargo cults are those which sprang up in the South [...]

ShareTraveler doesn’t usually cover “straight” regional news, but when word comes that the Carter County coroner was “deputized” to read an arrest warrant on methamphetamine charges against the county sheriff, with one of the deputies put on 24 hour hold pending investigation, and the Missouri Highway Patrol on hand as the law enforcement to take [...]

ShareIn the real world, its almost always a good thing when our friends introduce us to friends of theirs, especially when the first friend thinks we have things in common, and might actually form another friendship in this world which is often way too uncaring and cold.
Here are a few introductions to some friends [...]

ShareApril 1-2. Big Muddy Folk Festival. Boonville. Folk singing at Thespian Hall, and various venues. http://bigmuddy.org/
April 8-10. Cape Girardeau Storytelling Festival. Downtown. 9 am to 9 pm Fri/Sat; 9 am-3 pm Sunday. $20/day adults. www.capestorytelling.com.
April 8-9. 17th Annual Redneck BBQ Cook-Off. Bootheel Rodeo Grounds. Sikeston. Visit www.sikeston. net. 573-471-2498.
April 7-9. Great Lake of the Ozark [...]

ShareThe Beautiful and Enduring Ozarks
Leland Payton
ISBN 0-9673925-0-0 1999 80 pages. $19.95
See The Ozarks: The Touristic Image
Leland and Crystal Payton
ISBN 0-9673925-1-9 2003 $24.95
Mystery of the Irish Wilderness
Leland and Crystal Payton
ISBN 978-9673925-4-7 2008 $18.95
A trio of books, two by Leland and Crystal Payton, and one by Leland himself, showed up on request at [...]